http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306652

all you need to know is here.

Help!

-Matt

I had the issue of Time Machine not backing up to an Airport Extreme-linked external drive using Leopard (10.5.1). I tried the terminal command solution posted by James (October 30th) and it worked! Time Machine recognized my drive and created the first backup. Now, however, I cannot mount the external drive as a server. In fact, the Airport utility cannot even seen my Airport extreme! How can I return to the previous system preference setting using terminal? I’d rather have access to the drive and use other backup software for the time being.

Thanks,

Marty
hewlett@u.arizona.edu

You can use a network drive attached to another Leopard machine, though setting it up seemed a little random for me. I have an iMac and a MacBook, both running Leopard, and am now backing up the MacBook wirelessly to an external drive attached to the iMac, using Time Machine. Setting it up seemed a little random. I first did a backup to the external drive directly from the MacBook, then attached the external drive to the iMac. When I first brought up Time Machine preferences on the MacBook after that, it said it couldn’t find the drive. If I picked the option to select a new drive it gave me nothing to choose from. Then I went and browsed the external disk in Finder, and suddenly noticed that the MacBook had now found the disk and was doing a backup (without me having selected anything new). There may be an easier way of setting it up, but the MacBook has been doing hourly backups across the network (which have generally been taking about ten minutes).

Can you explain how you got Time Machine working with MyBook World Edition. I was unable to do it! I would really appreciate your help!

I just got time machine working with my Western Digital MyBook World Edition!

The solution? (From http://www.freakymousemats.com/blog/posts/2007/11/01/time-machine-over-smb/)

Run the following terminal command to update a hidden preference:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

I read on Ars Technica today that Time Machine uses Unix hard linking to files and directories (the latter of which is not normally allowed), so OS’s that aren’t Leopard might be very/dangerously confused by that, I figure. I’m sure the Linux geeks will hack a way eventually for NASed Time Machine.

Using Leopard now, if you try to choose a backup location and only have networked drives (yes, Apple HFS+ mounted using AFP even, or SMB/FAT), then you have an empty list to pick from. Which in my book makes Time Machine pretty lame. So it looks like you have to have a drive physically plugged in to your Apple via USB or Firewire.

Even the clunky .Mac Backup program could cope with networked drives… not so much Leopard as a Turkey

Can you detail the operation? Thanks.

use globalsan iscsi and mount an iscsi disk using openfiler or other free iscsi target software. Works great!

Doh! The network drive has to be hosted from a machine running leopard or leopard server. Just have to upgrade the other system.

What about to a linux box? I have an old PC that I was thinking of setting up as a backup server (I would be nice to plop down in my normal spot on the couch and have backups automatically run to my server in the bedroom…) I haven’t checked in awhile, but can Linux mount hfs+ partitions?

From the apple.com site (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html):
Pick a disk. Any disk.
You can designate just about any HFS+ formatted FireWire or USB drive connected to a Mac as a Time Machine backup drive. Time Machine can also back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, Leopard Server, or Xsan storage devices.

So it looks like a remote machine with afp support should work too…

Sadly the biggest thing on my mind after this article is…

FRIGGEN SCIFI CHANNEL!!! Why have they ruined Friday nights with Odyssey 5 and Flash Gordon?! Why have they forsaken their cash cows of Stargate and Battlestar!? Their Friday nights rocked until they moved BSG off the Friday night lineup, and now that SG-1 is canceled, it leaves Atlantis on its own with two of the most craptacular shows I’ve ever seen.

Even with SG-1 canceled, they should be re-running Season 3 of BSG and Dr. Who alongside Atlantis while they ramp up to the premiere of Razor! Damn you, Sci-Fi Channel!

I could be wrong… but as far as I know, the drive must be Mac format. And these ethernet/network/imbedded server (or whatever you call these things) drives are PC format.
Need an XRAID?